The Triangle Parkway toll road in Research Triangle Park will open for toll-free traffic on Dec. 8, and a few hundred Triangle residents will get an early chance to travel the new road Sunday afternoon -- on foot, in a 5K road race.

 It’s the first section of the 18.8-mile Triangle Expressway, the state’s first modern toll road, will extend south through western Wake County to Holly Springs. Construction is expected to be completed in December 2012.. 

 More than 400 runners are expected to take part Sunday in the Triangle Expressway Trot, a 5K road race with family-friendly activities. The race will benefit Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the traffic safety advocacy group.

 The event near the intersection of Hopson Road and Davis Drive will include food trucks, ice cream, sidewalk chalk art and demonstrations of big road-building trucks and machines.  The race starts at 2 p.m., with activities from 1 to 4 p.m. ... [MORE]

They're useless until early January, but they've been selling fast since mid-October.  How come? [11/4 update: see today's story with lots of reader comments.]

The N.C. Turnpike Authority has sold about 1,700 electronic transponders that drivers will use to pay tolls electronically when North Carolina's first modern toll road opens for business.

Have you bought your N.C. Quick Pass?  Why?  I'm reporting on this, and I'd like to hear from you about your plans for driving the Triangle Parkway when it opens for business.

Please email me, or give me a call at 919-829-4527.  Don't forget to leave your name and daytime phone number.

Electronic transponders for North Carolina's first modern toll road will go on sale Tuesday for $5, the N.C. Turnpike Authority says.

The N.C. Quick Pass is an electronic sticker transponder for drivers who plan to use the 18.8-mile Triangle Expressway through Research Triangle Park and western Wake County.  The first section of TriEx, the Triangle Parkway, will open for traffic in December and drivers will start paying tolls to use it in early January. The remainder of the road will open in phases, in August and December 2012.

The Turnpike Authority's customer service center will open for business at 10 a.m. Tuesday at 200 Sorrell Grove Church Road, Suite A, in Morrisville. The transponders will go on sale then at the service center and online at www.ncquickpass.com.

All tolls will be collected electronically.  Drivers without transponders will be billed based on photos of their license plates.  Toll rates are 35 percent lower for cars with transponders.

View Triangle Expressway in a larger map

Overhead cameras on N.C. 540 in western Wake County soon will be snapping pictures of license plates to test technology that will be used, starting in December, to identify cars and collect revenues on North Carolina’s first modern toll road.

The cameras are being installed between N.C. 54 and N.C. 55 on a section of the 540 Outer Loop that will become part of the Triangle Expressway.

Tolls will be collected electronically from drivers using TriEx, either from photos of their license plates or from dashboard transponders – which will qualify drivers for lower toll rates. The N.C. Quick Pass transponders will go on sale this fall.

The N.C. Turnpike Authority will start testing the cameras in the next two weeks to see how well the technology identifies the car owners. ... [MORE]

View Triangle Expressway in a larger map

Triangle residents are invited to two public workshops Thursday for the latest info on the Triangle Expressway, an 18.8-mile toll road under construction in Research Triangle Park and western Wake County.

The N.C. Turnpike Authority will provide information about construction of the two main components of TriEx:

* The Triangle Parkway – 3.4 miles through RTP, set to open in December – is an extension of the N.C. 147 Durham Freeway and will be marked with purple signs as Toll 147. It is the focus of a workshop session from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at Research Triangle Foundation headquarters, 12 Davis Drive in RTP.
* The Western Wake Freeway / Expressway / Parkway (these folks use three different names for the road, and they can’t seem to settle on one) will run 12.6 miles from the end of N.C. 540 at N.C. 55 near RTP south to N.C. 55 at Holly Springs. ... [MORE]

View Triangle Expressway in a larger map

After the first section of the Triangle Expressway opens in December, Research Triangle Park workers and other commuters will have a new decision to make at rush hour:

(A) Stick with the old route to work, which can get a little crowded at times, or
(B) pay a toll for what is supposed to be a quicker drive.

Which choice will you make?  I’d like to hear from you today for a story I’m writing.  Please e-mail me or call me at 919-829-4527, and don’t forget your contact info.  [Belated 3/17/11 update: Thanks for the feedback! See 3/5/11 story with many more comments.]

The N.C. Turnpike Authority is about to approve initial toll rates that will average 15 cents a mile for commuters who use a windshield transponder called N.C. QuickPass, and 23 cents for everybody else in a 2-axle vehicle.  ... [MORE]